Igreja de São Roque

Igreja de São Roque Lisbon Reviews

This church was originally a shrine to house a relic from Saint Roch. It was built in 1553, but its interior dates to the 18th century.

It has a very simple facade. Inside there are ten richly decorated chapels.

One of the main sights into this church is the Chapel of Sao Joao Baptista. It was made in Rome between 1742 and 1747. Then it was dismantled, transported to Lisbon by three ships and rebuilt inside the church. This chapel was made with gold, precious stones and Carrara marble.

There is a museum with several religious artifacts joined to the church.

There is a wonderful contradiction with this church. The façade looks so wonderfully plain, simple and sombre. And yet, once you step inside, the church is an ornate work of art with the most delicious chapels and altar.

Each chapel has an incredible amount of detail. Although it also houses the most expensive chapel (fourth one on the left), this was unfortunately covered up for restoration and cleaning purposes during my time of visit. I caught the briefest glimpse of it though, and it is stunning! The chapel was constructed using Italian craftsmanship, and it is likely that the other chapels might have been made in the same way as well, as I did feel as if I was in Italy for a while!

Entrance is free. Non-flash photography is permitted. The church attracts a fair few tourists too, so be mindful about not speaking about minor things in churches. Of course, this applies to all places of worship, but I felt that the tourists were slightly worse with their chatter here.

Definitely worth visiting if you are in Lisbon. It’s a church I’d go back to each time I was visiting Lisbon.